Opposition leader Kem Sokha confirmed Thursday that the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) would contest July’s national election though he said the opposition may still boycott the vote if disruptions and irregularities worsen during the official campaign period.
The CNRP has complained over the past week that their campaign stops are being disrupted by CPP loyalists and their campaign signs being torn down. Mr. Sokha, acting president of the CNRP, is also facing four separate lawsuits and additional threats of legal action as the election approaches.
“I would like to declare the CNRP’s stance clearly,” Mr. Sokha said at a press conference held at the CNRP’s headquarters in Phnom Penh. “We will join the general election on July 28, 2013. We are making ourselves ready, we are preparing ourselves and taking action in order to join the election.”
“But if the situation from now continues to get worse and worse and causes a major obstacle or other irregularities toward the CNRP…we will reconsider whether to join or not,” he added.
The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) says this year’s ballot is shaping up to be the most unfair since 1993 due to irregularities in the national voter list and a media environment dominated by the ruling party.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen called on senior members of the ruling party to file a lawsuit against Mr. Sokha for alleging that the CPP was behind a host of legal actions that have been taken against him recently.
In the face of threats by CNRP president Sam Rainsy and others within the party not to recognize the election if the vote is seen as illegitimate, the National Election Committee (NEC) said Thursday that Parliament would distribute their seats to other parties if a political party refuses to validate the vote.
“If they officially announce that they are not accepting the result and write it officially, [the NEC] can give their seats to other parties,” said Keo Phalla, the director of the NEC’s legal services department.
While the election law is not clear on the legality of such a move by the NEC, lawmakers elected to represent the SRP faced a similar quandary in 2008, and ended up validating the 4th mandate of the National Assembly to ensure their representation in government, noted Koul Panha, executive director of Comfrel.
“In 2008, the SRP, they didn’t [boycott the formation of Parliament] because if they do that, they risk losing all their seats and giving them to another party,” he said. “If [the CNRP] does it this time, they will face the same risk.”
Responding to a question about whether the CNRP’s participation in the election will endorse its legitimacy, CNRP candidate Son Chhay said that his party was facing limited options with the poll only five weeks away.
“Either we bring people to the street in demonstration against the government or we go to the polls. It is a very difficult decision we have to make,” he said.
“[Leaders of the government] are in a position where they want legitimacy, so they should be thinking about our concerns seriously. Otherwise, we will have to make a difficult decision,” he said.
“When people’s voices are violated, they have no choice but to organize a mass demonstration against the regime. We don’t want that to happen,” he said.
Laura Thornton, resident director of the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute, applauded the CNRP’s commitment to contest July’s election, but said that continued threats of a boycott could backfire on the opposition.
“You can’t have a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence. Their supporters need to know if they are in our out,” she said, casting doubt on the idea that the international community would deem illegitimate a government formed without the participation of the CNRP.
“They seem to think that [if they boycott] the international community, after July 28, would not recognize the government. Is that going to happen? No, of course the international community will recognize the government whether [the CNRP] competes or not.”
